This site is positively amazing.

The perspectives offered by this reallistic fiction comic are more true than any literal truth begging audience.

A funny trick to the English language, as exemplified by Dan Rather in "Appointment in Samarra," is that metaphor is one of the most powerful forms of description.

Similar to "The Things They Carried," telling a story that never was and never will be is often the best way to examine what is.

There are precious few avenues of genuine truth for our learning needs; all is pre-approved, filtered, edited, rehearsed, replayed, and packaged for your safety and convenience...bullshit.

By the time "truth" hits our eyes and ears from the screens and speakers of our world, it has been so horribly manipulated by influences serving their own ends, that I dare not type the word outside of quotation marks in this context.

However, the truth of shootingwar.com is something that permeates deeper than the usual manipulated facts that corporations would prefer that we take to heart.

Truth is not times, dates, places, or actions; these are fact. Truth is made of people, emotions, motivations, and consequences (consequences besides commercials).

Instead of manipulating fact into the sponsor-approved-"truth," it is better to tell a tall tale from the outset.

That's right, I'm saying there is more truth in the fiction of a young author's web comic than in 24 hours of the "news" as (insert whatever network here) portrays it.

What a ride…
Chuck Palahniuk always makes me think.

In observing the parallels between Survivor and Palahniuk's more famous/infamous Fight Club, I find patterns that make me search for yet more metaphors outside of this author's work.
Both stories are "definitive Palahniuk"; the tales tell of reluctant "hero's" quest's where a disenfranchised, lost son experiences a coming-of-age/un-coming-of-age roller-catastrophe-coaster…

Crap it's hard to describe, just read the fucking books.

The protagonist in each respective tale dances drunken relationship waltzes with two primary characters while the rest of the cast is just divisive supporting roles. These two main supporting roles are a male and a female. The male is a funhouse-mirror reflection of that which the protagonist has recently felt dead within himself. The female is the worst possible match in the world and therefore the perfect femme-fucked-up-fatale to pair with our hero during his adventures.

When I consider these ideas, I think of a type of meta-fiction: the "un-writing" of a coming-of-age story.

When I think of Tender Branson, Adam Branson, and Fertility Hollis...
I think of "Jack," Tyler Durton, and Marla Singer.
I think of Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere (or the characters from the lore that inspired the many tales of Camelot's fall).
Bruce Wayne, Batman, and Selina Kyle (Catwoman's secret identity).
William Turner, Jack Sparrow, and Elizabeth Swan
Victor Frankenstein, Robert Walton, and the Creature (little messed-up, I know)
Jack Skellington, Oogie Boogie, and Sally

Another tangential thought is that of the game in the pages of all the palahniuk I've read so far.
I think chuck loves games...next to Lovecraft, he would be the most evil D.M. ever.
As Tender plays at the game of his questioning soul, he is played by every other person he encounters. Even as he rebels and indulges, he remains a misbehaving tool at best. Even the bulk of Tender's misbehavior turns out to be someone else's idea. Tender is the game being played here.

Palahniuk weave's a painfully abstract and "truer than life" banner that he stubbornly waves while pounding at the gates of Fundamentalism--and invites the rest of us to join him in raising the choking fortress to the ground.
Dangerous stuff.
I think I'll read me s'more Palahniuk.

My favorite part about reading Chuck Palahniuk's work is the lack of "spoilers."

In most cases, I find stories to be horribly trying and difficult to read if I can guess too much of what's to come based on foreshadowing.

That problem doesn't arise very often with Palahniuk. Even though Survivor begins by flat-out teling the reader how the book will end, the reader has little idea what will be read in a few pages.

I'm halfway through the book now, and well...I don't know what to say about Tender yet.

I need to wrap my head around this one a little more.

In reading The Call of CthulhuI, The Dunwich Horror, and The Shadow Over Innsmouth, I've concluded that the vast majority of Lovecraft's characters in these stories (definately the protagonists) are playing at a dire game.

This game is an adventure against impossible odds who's most desireable outcome, given the options, is death. Of course the players in the game are never allowed to know this awful truth until it is far too late and there is no longer a chance to quit playing. The players blindly drive towards this point-of-no-return, driven by their own curiosity (and greed) to understand the greatest and most forbidden truths that predate time and reason. It is not until after the players have had a mere glimpse of such arcana that they learn the more immediate truth of their own, now-sealed fate. Curiosity kills the cat, but the human in this game can only hope to be so lucky.

Additionally, I now see where the majority of my favorite storytellers (any genre) have all taken cues from Lovecraft. I've been advised of Lovecraft's influence, but until reading his work had never experienced it first hand. Indeed, I myself now feel amply armed to dive once again into my own works of fiction with renewed inspiration fuelling my creativity. Lovecraft rocks.

You Know What Really Boils My Blood?

...the fact that bible-bashers think they're any better than bible-thumpers!

This is not an attack against religion or other forms of spirituality, nor agnostics and atheists.

This is an enthusiastic pair of middle fingers in the faces of religious and anti-religious extremists—those who would save/destroy the world by parroting exhausted clichés and engaging in sophomoric mudslinging.

Bible-thumpers: Psychos who dwell on the extreme-edge of literal interpretation and dogmatic law. These are zombies who hear and repeat without listening or considering, involving only their mouths and egos as they regurgitate and befoul well-meaning ideals.

Again, this refers to a minority of religious and spiritual people—mostly those waving or wearing signs on the streets of downtown.

A sufficiently pungent stink has already been raised about unthinking, holy book wielding automatons and their hypocritical practices—so no additional slamming is needed here.

However, not enough noise is blasted back into the ears of superficial, anti-Jesus screamers.

Bible-bashers: Losers who dwell on the extreme-edge of anti-religious "activism" and malicious slander. These creatures remain blissfully ignorant of the fact that they embody the very thing against which they claim to stand. They differ from bible-thumpers only in that which they preach.

It is thoroughly exhausting; listening to broken record bitching that thinly veils an adolescent sneer towards authority figures.

Grow up.

It is one thing to have one's own beliefs, or even to choose not to believe anything at all. However, it is a different matter entirely when one chooses to overtly attack the beliefs of religious people.

Anyone who displays and spews anti-religious propaganda is just a backwards-evangelist, hereafter referred to as an "adamangelist."

There are an infuriating number of anti-religious zealots that have not even bothered to read the holy book(s) they claim to understand well enough to contest. This means that any thoughts on the actual meaning of said texts are strictly second-hand. They are zombies who hear and repeat without listening or considering, involving only their mouths, egos and etcetera.

Nobody is impressed when an adamangelist quotes a pair of unrelated snippets without context from a religious text and points out "flaws" or "hypocrisy." That sort of critical "thinking" ceased to be funny in the early '90s.

The most glaring example of adamangelism is an all-too-frequent spectacle. Someone will approach a person or group, greet them, ask about their day, listen to the response and politely ask if they could spare a moment to talk about God.

The response is an inflammatory remark, often leading into an abusive tirade.

A simple "no" would do just fine, or one could simply walk away.

The evangelist in question honestly believes in their heart that they are attempting to help someone find a path to salvation.

To summarize, one can not claim to be an individual standing against something while remaining ignorant of that entity's nature. Aping the protests of others makes you no less a mindless follower than your stereotypical counterparts.

In essence, black wool makes one no less a sheep.

Chaoscius says
"To have a clear voice of revolution, one must know the heart of old songs to be changed. Otherwise, one sings with the voice of a jackass."

A friend just sent me a note asking me if I'd forgotten her.

This got me to thinking about how I've dropped out of the loop and let the line go silent to a large number of people.

Well, to be honest, I just do that--been doing it for years.

I guess I'm trying to break that habit.

So, if anyone else has been wondering if I've forgotten You, the answer is:

Course not.

I'm just buried in stwdi.

(stwdi: pronounced "STEW-dee"; acronym for Shit That Won't Do Itself)

I'm not enjoying most of it.

I keep thinking about just giving it allllllllll up and starting over with a new life.

Maybe I'll become a vigilante or a serial killer or something.

Something that would cause the greedy, the wealthy,  and the politicians to hate my guts on mere principal.

Yeah, I'll be a superhero by the name of "The Masked Motherfucker", "Captain Asshole", "Bastard Man","The Mighty Middle Finger","Crimson Shithead", or something like that.

Anyway, where the hell is everyone? How the hell are you?

A couple of you went and scared me up, but when I stick my head out of my hole, your GONE.

No fair tommy-knocking!

***turns red, face becomes mongoloid-ish, grows two feet and 1,000 pounds, clothing tears off, save for torn-up black pants***

>:-@ DICK SMASH!!!!

...

Alright, as you can tell, I'm half-crazy at the moment.

Lots of, well...SHIT to deal with right now.

I've bitched enough already so its safe to keep reading, I promise.

Continuing then, I do miss my friends terribly, even the ones I've been silent to for a long time. I'll blog about some of what's going on later, but for now I have to finish my homework (some of which will appear here).

Drop me a line,

Dusty

 I'm f#*%ing fed-up with getting fed-up!!!

  I Finally got my schedule sorted out , for better or for worse.
I dropped ENG-206, "Touched With Fire" from my class list. I didn't want to wuss-out, but there's this promise to myself that I've been making for almost two years now, "I'm going to slow the hell down and relax a little before I burn myself out!"
The material was absolutely fascinating, but I just don't want to commit THAT much time to homework this time around.
It was only a mere six visits to the lines in Registration, five phone calls, four hours that I couldn't spare, three forms, two signatures from hard-to-find teachers, and a fucking partridge in a pear tree later when I had dropped ENG-206 and added Intermediate/Advanced Karate instead, I was enrolled in exactly 12 credit-hours for this term.
Luckily, Karate falls on pretty much the same time slot as my literature class did, so I didn't have to rearrange the rest of my schedule (thank GOD!). For the first time in my nearly two years (already THAT long?) at Clackamas Community College, that "Harvard on the Hill,"
I'm enrolled ONLY full-time!!!


Oh man, have I ever MISSED the martial arts...I think I've REALLY been needing to get some aggression out. I get that feeling because hitting the mats/hardwood and working my ass into the ground this coming Monday has been ALL I can think about since Friday!
I'm not out to hurt anybody, I just love the sport of combat in all its forms. When I was younger, I used to wonder if I would develop a violent temperament or a chip on my shoulder by learning to fight. I was afraid that I might turn into an asshole. We'll I'm older now and I'm definitely an asshole, but I'm also a pacifist by nature. Having a good instructor will have that effect on you. I don't like seeing people hurt, I learned this the hard way several years ago. I'll fight when its needed, but only if it will alleviate something worse or if a def...
*chokes*
Preachy soapbox digression--Bleah!
Anyway, my class schedule for the (moment) term currently includes PH-212: Physics with Calculus II, ENG-216: Comics and Literature, J-215: Journalism, PE-185-044: Intermediate/Advanced Karate, and PE-185-115: Weight Training.
That's it, not counting work, clubs, homework, and life.


I've been in a huge emotional slump lately due to females in general. However, I won't burden you with that mountain of fertilizer because that's what close friends are for.
I do have to say just one little thing though.
 "STRAIGHT/BI LADIES:
If you have never walked up to a man, complimented him, asked him out, and PAID for the date, but STILL claim to be a feminist, then
YOU ARE FULL OF SHIT, PRINCESS."
There, now I feel a little better!


Talk to you soon!

Well, I've been told by the (if I remember correctly) fifth person TODAY that I should keep a journal.

I think people are trying to tell me I talk too much.

Today was the first day back at school; Winter Term.
I'm taking a light load of 15 credits this term. I say 15 is "light" because I normally take 19-22 credits.
I'm president of my college's chapter of the international honors society, Phi Theta Kappa this year. We have a large ammount of work to do, and little time in which to do it.
There's also the other clubs I'm involved with: Fibonacci Alliance (president), Rainbow Club, Writer's Club, History Travel Club, Campus Democrats Club, Campus Republicans Club (YES both, long story...maybe I'll blog on it later), The Journalism Club, Art Fair, blah, blah, blah...
I work for a few departments at school as a tutor, but I'm working entirely for the math department this term because they pay me the most. Normally, I work for  three or four departments at a time.
I have to go out and find another job to make ends meet because I'm only allowed to work less than 20 hours a week for the school.
Maybe I'll get hired for some private tutoring again, that always helps.
Oh yeah, I joined the school paper this term too! It should be a fun experience.

I'll try to update this sucker once in awhile...
Later